The Dunes

Our family's newest member "Charlie"

These pictures will help catch you up

Melissa & Beau kick'n it
Riggs just could not take it anymore
Beau get'n ready for winter X games

They say pictures are worth a thousand words. Since I am short on time, I have put these in to catch you up on the past few months. Enjoy.

MOAB

Riggsy in the backpack
The crew and the cousins
Buzzy and Preston in a hole

It has been a while since the last blog. Not because nothing has happened, but because so much is happening there has been no time to blog.

We went to Moab last week for the kid's spring break. It is an annual trip we go on with Melissa's parents and sisters and their families. Normally it is much warmer than where we live and it primes us for the summer season. This year, not so. It snowed the whole way down and for the first two days of being there. I was determined to ride my bike anyway, and got snowed on, but it was fun. At least I did not sweat much! The last two days were much warmer. Luckily the Motel had a hot tub and warm pool. The boys just love to swim everyday. This year we played golf, which took the time space we usually use to ride go carts and see a movie. Below are the pictures and a video.

We were supposed to go on another trip this week to Goblin Valley with my cousin Dan and Jen, but at the last moment, I did not get paid enough from my outstanding bills due, and we had to forfeit the trip in lieu of waiting for more pay to arrive. It was very disappointing to say the least. It will probably be for the better because I just got slammed with work again this week. Next week, I am supposed to go play again in Moab. Just a guys trip that weekend. Meeting some friends from Phoenix. Then the week after that I am going to go play again. This time with Dan, Rick, my uncle Mike and cousin Mike. It will be a Wild Hogs weekend in S. Utah. I am renting a Harley since I don't own one. Now I just need to get a license!

You may think, man you are playing a lot Matt. And my response would be "dang right". I have arrived at the philosophy that my last thought in life will not be "man I should have worked more". Quite the contrary. So I figure, as long as I am providing for the family (which is barely working out lately), being a good husband and father, then play I must, and as much as I can! Another thought that has come to me lately that I may start testing out is the new motto: "Food and Fun before bills". I doubt that the creditors will appreciate it that much, but hey it makes me feel better, even if I don't take action on it.

For a more serious note. I got to see my good friends Cory and Jenny last week in Moab. They moved there a couple of years ago. Cory is a river guide down there, and just got his own boat to manage. He showed it to me. I did not realize that river boats were so big, and with such a big motor. I enjoyed seeing what he was doing to it in getting it ready for the big season. He said there will be big, big water this summer because of the anticipated runoff on the Colorado River. After that I went back to his house and talked to him and Jenni for quite a while. I really enjoyed connecting with them again. It has been too long. I hope I can do it again, soon. Cory is thinking about getting another dirt bike (he gave it up a few years ago). I hope he does, as now that that is one of my favorite things to do, I would love to ride with him.

Well check this out. 72 degrees on Monday. Snow yesterday and today and in the 30's all day long. Wow, talk about a swing! I know April is generally a little chilly and rainy around here, but ususally things are blooming, it is green, and it is much warmer. I really got my wish this year! Plenty of snow. I will be snowmobiling into June probably. Speaking of which, I had another reality check last week. There is a thing that one can do each Spring in regards to snowmobiles. One can "Snowcheck" a sled. What that means is that you can give a sled dealer $500 now, to gaurantee a brand new sled of the next year's model delivered by Nov. 15th. If it does not show up by then, then you get $1500 back. Plus you get all sorts of extras for taking the risk. I wante to get a new one so bad, but Melissa planted my feet back on the earth and I had to pass. Perhaps next year...

MOOSE MUNCH

Check out the picture! I was just getting done appraising a home in Park City and was walking to my car. 50 feet away, lo and behold a Moose! In the middle of the street. At first I thought it was a bear and jumped about 10 feet in the air. After I dried my shorts, I realized it was a Moose. Much to my joy, this year is a record snow fall year. Because of this, all of the deer, elk, and moose are coming down from the higher elevations to get food. In fact, we have been encouraged, if we live slightly out of town, to set up feeding spots, as they are having a hard time living because of the snowfall and scarcity of food.

It has been awhile since we checked in. The coolest thing that has happened for me (Matt) since then, was that I got to have lunch with an old Junior High/High School friend. I had not seen or spoke to him for 18 years. He moved to Chicago right after graduation and got married to his High School sweetheart. Somehow he found my name on classmates dot com and connected with me. He was going to be in Salt Lake on business and wanted to catch up. We planned on having lunch for an hour or so, but 3+ hours later we were still talking. We had to reluctantly shut it down, as he had to get to his appointments. I now know what women feel like when they enjoy talking so much to each other for hours (or was it the female hormones I have been taking to help me feel like what my wife feels like, being a woman?). He has three kids and it was great because he related a lot of the same experiences I have had, being a parent. You know, wondering if you are raising the kids in an appropriate manner, learning how to let go and let them make decisions-sometimes to their detriment, trying to figure out where the money will come from to pay the bills and keep them housed, fed and clothed. He looked great, and the pictures of his family were well appreciated. I hope I get the opportunity to do that again someday. Zack, thanks for calling!

Gross Pointe Blank!! Check it out. I bought that, and my favoritist movie of all time, "Better Off Dead" the other day on Amazon. I have watched both movies repeatedly, and still want more. What is going on with me? New midlife crisis? I love those older movies with John Cusack. "Sorry Ricky that your mom blew up last night". "What do you do for a living? Oh, I get paid to assasinate people. Oh, I hear that is a growth industry." Name where those lines came from and I will give you a prize.

This is what we do when it's not snowing

I figured that I would post some great pictures of what we do when it is not winter around here (spring, summer, and fall). We bought a toy hauler last spring and took up motor sports. We were going to the local sand dunes about 2 times a month this last year. These photos are from our last trip down there.

Also an update:

After putting my application to be on the Search and Rescue team over a year ago, they finally called me last week. I am pretty excited about it. I have been itching to get outside of myself and do some service for something that matters for a long time, instead of just focusing on paying bills, and myself. For some reason, my church callings (though they may be many at this time), don't give me the satisfaction of service that S & R does. I have an avalanche training this week. Should be worthwhile. There have been quite a few deaths around here this winter already from avalanches. Hopefully my new acquired snowmobiling skills will come in handy, as that is what the majority of searches are for around here-lost snowmobilers.

I have one gripe, then I will be over it! We have gotten about 4 feet of NEW snow this last week here. I am in charge of coaching the Young Men's basketball team, and we had a game on Saturday AM. It was total blue skies, and all of this new snow to play on. I had friends going riding, but I could not, as I was coaching-that was painful enough. When I got to the game, we had to forfeit, because we did not have enough players! Keep in mind that we have enough players usually to field two teams. Come on parents and players! If you are going to commit to a team, at least let the coach know you or your kid won't be showing. We coaches volunteer a lot of time away from our family and from our own little freetime, which is great and rewarding when the efforts are not taken for granted. Give me a break! This weekend, I think I will just let them know that I will not be there, and that one of the parents can go in my stead. Geez.

Sorry, had to get it off my chest. Peace out, werd to ya mutha, and all that...

Found the Snow

Well, after a whole week of predicted snow storms, we only got one of four. I won't complain too much. We got about 8" at our house, and about 2.5 to 3 feet in the mountains on Saturday and Sunday. I learned how to snowboard on Saturday, with the help of my friend Kurt. I got about two green hills in and finally got the hang of it. By the end fo the day, I was doing double blues. I discovered that doing bumps on a snowboard is not near as fun as ski's. The powder was easier though. I think next time, I might try hitting a couple of small jumps and see where that takes me. The funniest part of the whole day was when we had lunch. I was hot, so I had to take off my sweat pants. Well under my sweat pants, I had a layer of long underwear, and a new pair of spandex shorts with pads on the hips and tailbone built in. But the long underwear were Sweet! I bought them from Underarmor last year, and I chose to get the camoflauge print. So there I was, standing in the middle of the restaurant (where a piece of pizza was 6 bucks) amongst all of the polished, cultured people in their fancy ski outfits, in my camo long underwear, with some weird looking padded cycling shorts over them. I was trying to hurry to not gross everyone out, but I was too late. In the middle of my changing routine, the lady at the next table looks up at me and says "those are sexy". I tried hard to not laugh, but it was too funny. I just about started dancing for her to add to the effect, but I held off.

I took Zane Snowmobiling for his first time on New Year's Eve. We had a great time. He fell off the sled a few times, and got stuck some too. But I actually got stuck more than him. I forgot to get some action pictures, but I got one of him (posted) when we were done. He was kind of surprised on how much energy it took to do that. We had a great time. Then we all went out to dinner with Melissa's family, and my Mom and Zane to Breadstix. What a small world! We ran into our dentist from Phoenix. He has a vacation home in Park City, and I have run into him a lot, surprisingly, but never in Heber. He was eating with some local friends at the same restaurant. We were happy to see him.

We spent some time New Year's Eve playing games with Melissa's sister, Theresa, and her husband, Jeff, along with some new friends of ours, Kurt and Michelle Thurkelson. Kurt is from New Zealand. When he got out of the army, he became a full time ski bum for several years. He would work here, or in France, in the winters, and in the summers he would go back to New Zealand and work the ski resorts there. He lived the life I always had an interest in living. He met his wife in Park City, because she worked there too. Now they live up the street from us. The thing that amazes me, as it does with my friends Cory and Jenni Chatwin, is that they have no heater in their house. They heat the house solely by their wood stove. Wow! I don't know if I would enjoy that too much, I don't do well at getting up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire. And that would have to be done, or the pipes would freeze.

On New Year's day, we went out to Daniel's Summit and went tubing/sledding. It took me a few hours to build a sweet run, and when I had just finished, we had to go. But Kreed did get a few jumps in. See the posted video and picture. That boy can fly! Melissa's parents, Dick and Elva Baum, went with us, as well as Kurt and Michelle.
After the tubing adventure, we went to Provo to the movies with my Mom and Zane, and Vince (a family friend of ours that lives in Provo). We went to see National Treasure 2. It was a little above Rykster's and Beau's level, so I distracted them with popcorn, sprite, and skittles.
When we got home, we all went straight to bed. We were all so tired from the late nights and large amount of activity.

Now it is back to reality. I was not too excited to come to work today, thinking about all the bills we have to pay, where the money will come from, getting my jobs done, etc. "Welcome to the new year", I said to myself, as I summoned up all of the mental energy I could to climb out of bed and get to tackling this year. I keep on thinking, "what if I just skipped out on all of my job duties, and blew everything off, and just went skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling everyday?" Probably not the most constructive thing to think about...

Where is the snow?

Our first Post! I anticipate this being jointly shared between Melissa and I. I have had an earnest desire to keep a journal for a long time, however because of my beautiful handwriting, I have always been concerned about my posterity actually being able to understand what I write. Therefore, I started to write my journal in word, very sporadically. After a few computer crashes and accidental deletions, I am left with about 5 journal entries since 2001!
Alas, the blog. Read em', never rote em'. This might be the solution, as long as I can export my blogs onto a portable memory device with the ability to put it in a fireproof safe, within the home I will eventually build that will have bullet proof walls (an inside joke, that I will have to expand on sometime in the future).

So why the title of my post?
Well since we moved back to Utah, from Arizona, in the winter my life completely revolves around snow- the more we get, the happier and higher I am. In fact, if you speak to me on a day that it is snowing, you will actually ask yourself if I am on crack. NO JOKE! Since our move back we have taken up motorsports (which I am sure my Dad is rolling over in his grave about, and begging the man upstairs to haunt me till I quit). You name it: Snowmobiling, Motorcycling, Four Wheeling, boating, etc... Add my new passion for snowmobiling and my already existing love for skiing, and you have a walking time bomb ready to explode large white flakes when new snow arrives!

Since my love for all things snow (only as long as it is "steep and deep"), I have found a new passion that is not so constructive. It is watching the weather reports, and reeming weathermen for always being so wrong. Case in Point: weatherman states for 4 days straight (starting last Saturday to Tuesday night) that we would be getting at least 4 snow storms this week, that would dump 10 to 20 new inches in each storm. Well here we are on Thursday, and we have yet to accumulate one inch, even at the 10k foot elevation (I know, I was just up there on my sled). What the _____! It has to be some conspiracy between the news stations and local ski resorts to overpromise and underachieve predicted snowfall in order to sell more lift tickets and lodging...

Well, on a more positive note. I am planning on going snowboarding tomorrow with my brother. My Mother's post mentioned that I am not good at snowboarding. I must add the word that is missing from the end of that sentence "yet". I an not good at snowboarding, yet. I have never done it, aside from 1/2 of one run. I am going to pick it up this winter. I went out and bought some hip pads, and wrist gaurds so that my learning experience will not be so painful, and more endearing. Watch out.

OK, now I am going to figure out how to post some pictures.
Till next time...